Cobol Mainframe Programmers Changing Careers!

COBOL Mainframe Programmers switching careers have to overcome several challenges including the fear of learning new programming languages.

In addition, cobol programmers have to pick the right programming language which is not an easy task considering the range of possibilities (C#, Java, C/C++, PHP, Python, Visual Basic, Perl, etc.).

Cobol programmers also have to brand their resumes to look like that of modern, object oriented software developers.

Considering these challenges, one is not surprised whenever a cobol programmer decides to stick with legacy programming skills.

That is why I am dedicating this post to helping cobol mainframe programmers transition their skills or careers.

How To Transition Cobol Mainframe Legacy Programming Skills

I will start by answering a question which is at the core of the challenges faced by many cobol programmers.

Here is the question submitted by a cobol mainframe programmer from Stafford, Texas.

I am a Cobol programmer but I have been out of the business for more than 5 years due to layoff.

I have been driving an 18-wheeler for 6 years and I want to get back into programming.

What is the best route to take?

I am planning to take A+ Certification class at Houston Community College in the Summer.

In the meantime, I need to stop driving.

Changing Careers For Mainframe Cobol Programmers

I would advice that you start with learning the Microsoft .NET suite of programming languages.

Learning Microsoft .NET is not a small undertaking, but it currently presents the best career path for modern, object oriented computer programmers.

Learning Microsoft.NET includes learning the following family of programming languages or platforms:

• .NET Framework
• ASP.NET

• C# or Visual Basic .NET … I recommend C#
• SQL Server for database Development

I don’t recommend that you start with A+ certification because that is taking an in-direct route to a programming career.

That path will take you to a desktop support job and you may actually end up getting lost in that role … which is okay if that is what you really want!

If you really want to become a computer programmer, then you need to learn Microsoft .NET

Here is why learning Microsoft .NET will be a better option for you:

High Demand For Microsoft.NET Programming Skills

• There is such a high demand for Microsoft.NET programming skills in the current economy, that you’re virtually guaranteed a job, as soon as you’re skilled or competent at programming with .NET Framework.

Shorter Training Time For Microsoft.NET

Here is why I advocate that you learn Microsoft.NET instead of Java or C/C++.

It has a shorter learning curve or training time because the language is easier to master and Microsoft provides you with a Rapid Application Development (RAD) environment which allows you to write full-featured applications in a shorter time.

These RAD tools have intelligence built-in which presents you with tips on the programming syntax as you code.

This reduces the challenge of memorizing .NET Framework programming syntax and it also reduces the time it will cost you to create complete, working business applications.

More Career Options for .NET Developers

Becoming a .NET Developer opens up your career to the corporate computer programmer career path.

1. As a .NET Developer, you have more career options because Microsoft.NET is designed to work with other Microsoft products. This makes your skills more portable and it opens up a bigger programming market for you.

2. If you’re a .NET developer, you may also get a job creating websites or work as a database developer or focus on developing MS Office applications.

3. You can also work as a windows developer or as a mobile developer.

4. You can even work on enterprise business applications like Commerce Server, Sharepoint or Reporting Services.

Since you have some previous programming background (even though it was as a cobol programmer) and you are still interested in computer programming, I would advice you to jump into learning .NET Framework immediately and not to waste your time on other pursuits!

Finally I would like to mention that we are running a special discount where you can get trained on both the Microsoft .NET Framework and SQL Server database development.

All you really have to do is, place an order for both the Software Developer Boot Camp and the SQL Boot Camp and this special discount would be applied to you.

1. Click here to Add the Software Developer Boot Camp

2. Click here to Add the SQL Boot Camp Training

Once you add both the SQL and Software Developer Boot Camp, you will get the on-going special discount for the Microsoft .NET Software Developer Training Track.

In this post we discussed the challenges facing legacy cobol mainframe programmers and suggested the best path for those interested in changing careers.

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Do you have a burning question about your business analyst, software
developer, database, SQL career that you want answered? Post your question as a
comment below and I will answer it for you!

What is the toughest challenge facing you? Is it on your technical
skills, job interview, resume, job performance? Post the question you want
answered and let me help you make that decision on how to take you career to
the next level!

1. Do you have a question on how to prepare for your next SQL or Database Job
Interview?

2. Do you have a question on how to prepare for your next Business Analyst
Job Interview?

3. Do you have a question on how to prepare for your next Software Developer
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If you have a question on how to become a software developer or how to
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About The Author

My name is Kingsley Tagbo and I’m a technical expert living in Saint Louis,
Missouri. I write about the training, coaching, mentoring
and personal development of software development professionals including
business analysts, computer programmers, testers, project managers, web
designers, data analysts, report writers, software developers and other
information technology professionals .

My firm, Exacticity, performs software development consulting and training for
clients throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New
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I am taking questions on developer careers.

This article is on how to handle fear at programming interviews and become self-confident.

To succeed as a contract programmer, full time developer or freelance programmer you need to master the “developer interview”. Because your technical job interviewing skills are key to getting job offers, do not ignore them or you will quickly be un-employed in any competitive market.

The one critical skill that can make or break your programming interview is fear and here is why:

1. Fear shuts your mind down! Have you ever experienced a feeling of loss of control in a programming interview? That feeling usually increases in intensity as you get more nervous at a job interview.

   The fear then begins to express itself in your job interview as an inability to hear your interviewer’s questions, recall the right answer to an interview question or articulate a coherent reply. The end result is that fear makes you look bad and incompetent to the interviewer.

2. Fear stops you from getting hired! Fear makes you look unconfident and interviewers don’t want to hire programmers who are unsure of themselves. The general thinking is that if you are not sure of your programming skills, then you are probably not qualified to do the job.
3. Fear shuts down your career. Fear of job interviews ultimately causes you to miss good job opportunities, keeps you longer at positions you dislike and keeps you un-employed for a longer time because employers are un-comfortable with hiring.

Here are a few tips, suggestions and tools for overcoming fear of programming interviews and becoming more confident in your programming skills.

1. Preparation Breeds Self-Confidence! The quality of your preparation for your programmer interview will affect the confidence with which you answer questions.

   Begin by acknowledging that “interviewing skills” are not the same thing as “programming skills”. So you can’t assume that because you know how to program computers, you are also good at answering questions on your programming language.

   So, prepare hard for the questions and answers programmer job interview regardless of how well you can code.

2. Act Confident And You Become Confident! Learn how to manage nervousness and fear at job interviews. Begin by acting self-confident because the mantra “fake it till you make it” works.

   Here are specific actions you can take at your interview to increase your level of your self-confidence and reduce or manage nervousness and fear:

   • Look the interviewer in the eye as you walk in smiling
   • Shake the hand of your interviewer firmly
   • Maintain eye contact as you answer questions. Control the urge to look around or away.
   • Speak up, speak at a measured pace and speak clearly when answering questions. Resist the urge to mumble or rush over your words.
   • Take a deep breath whenever you feel your control slipping.
   • Isolate and focus on the interview at hand. Don’t listen to negative or distracting thoughts that may try to assail your mind. You should either be listening intently to your interviewer’s question or focusing your mind completely on your reply. Don’t let your mind wonder.
   • Make a joke to break tension. If you feel yourself getting too tensed, relax, take a deep breath, smile and then make a non-offensive joke about something when it’s your turn to talk. The practice of smiling and joking can stop the tension that easily turns into more nervousness and fear.

3. It’s Not The End Of The World. Do not treat your programmer interview as a life and death affair. Realize that as you work on techniques that help you overcome nervousness and become more self-confident, you perform better at job interviews. This means that you are improving your chances of getting a programming job. So, just do the best you can and realize that in the end, “doing your best is what counts”.

In this article, I have been talking about “how to overcome nervousness and fear in programming job interviews” and “how to succeed at technical interviews through self-confidence“.

This post is part of a series of answers to questions sent in by readers. If you have a question about your programmer career, post it here or email it to me.

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Desktop vs Web Developer Skills?

Are you focusing your software development efforts on an area of specialization or career track? In this post, I will discuss and compare the demand for web developer skills to the demand for desktop programming skills, so that you can decide which developer track is better for you and make a better investment of your time or efforts.

• Desktop Developers create applications known as thick clients that reside on the desktop, while web developers create rich internet applications or websites which are viewed using a web browser (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, etc.).

  Aspiring desktop developers have to learn windows application development using tools like Visual Basic, C#, C/C++.

• Web Developers have to learn web application development using tools like Visual Basic, C#, PHP, ASP.NET they also have to learn user interfaced based technologies like CSS, JavaScript and HTML.

  Web Developers are in much higher demand at this time because the demand for web applications is much higher than the demand for Desktop applications.

For every five (5) web developer jobs advertised, I see just about one desktop developer job.

The demand ten (10) years ago was for desktop applications because businesses were still getting used to the INTERNET and the WEB.

Today there is a much higher demand for web applications because the web HAS CHANGED the nature of how we do business and how we interact with each other.

Web applications are in more demand because they are easier to scale than windows applications.

They are more cost effective to support, easier to deploy and much more accessible.

The skills you gain as a web developer will be in demand across a wider market than the skills you gain from Windows development.

So, here is a comparison of the demand for web developer skills to desktop programming skills

• Scalability of Web Applications Versus Desktop Software

  Web Applications have thin front-ends (thin clients) which means that they can be accessed by more users or customers with less network or server overhead than Desktop software which has a much thicket front-end (fat client)!

• Support or Maintenance Costs of Web vs. Desktop Software

  Web applications have a lower support and maintenance cost compared to desktop applications.

  When a Desktop application has to be upgraded, the software has to be re-installed on all the desktops accessing it!

  This is in contrast to Web Applications where an upgrade or re-install is necessary only for one or a few computers (in the case of server farms used in highly trafficked websites!)

  Maintaining Desktop Applications also costs an organization more money because more support technicians have to be employed to troubleshoot install or deployment bugs and issues encountered whenever you deploy a desktop application to several different computers.

• Accessibility of Web Programs Versus Desktop Applications

  The internet makes web applications extremely accessible!

  A Web Application deployed to a server in Tulsa, Oklahoma can be accessed easily using a browser from a computer in any city, state or country.

  This is is contrast to Desktop applications where you first have to download and install the software on your local computer before you can view or access it.

  This is why the accessibility of Desktops is severely limited when compared to the accessibility of Web Applications!

• Web vs Desktop Software, Which Is Better for Business?

  Web Applications act as business portals for providing personalized services to customers or users around the globe.

  Web applications make it easier for businesses to streamline or automate their business processes by providing one-stop destinations for frequently used or accessed services.

  Web Applications make it easy to deliver out-of-the-box ideas or new services quickly and through testing and experimentation, they make it easier to gather feedback on what works and what doesn’t!

If a large portfolio of your application development is in Windows, your career may end up with skills that are not marketable or become extinct like the Dodo.

My recommendation is: Learn Web Development Skills like ASP.NET, CSharp (C#), Visual Basic .NET, .NET Framework, SQL Server, MySQL, PHP, WordPress (CMS), JavaScript, CSS, HTML / XHTM, Ajax, JQuery.

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